Symptoms.—Movements from the bowels are frequent, as first consisting of thin fecal matter, but as this malady progresses it becomes watery and offensive in smell, and streaked with blood. At first the animal shows no constitutional disturbances, but eventually it becomes weak and shows signs of abdominal pain by looking around to the flank, throwing the feet together, lying down, or moving restlessly. Sometimes this disease is accompanied by fever, great depression, loss of strength, rapid loss of flesh; terminating in death.
Treatment.—Determine the cause and remove it if possible. When the disease is due to irritating properties of food which have been fed the animal, it is well to give a physic of Castor Oil in two to six ounce doses, according to the size of the animal. When there is debility, want of appetite, and temperature normal, but continuous water discharge from the bowels, give Protan, two ounces; Gum Cathechu, one ounce; Pulv. Ginger, one ounce; Zinc Sulphocarbolates, eight grains. Make into sixteen powders and give one powder on the tongue every three or four hours, according to the severity of the attack. Feed food that is easily digested, as wheat bran mashes, steamed rolled oats, etc. See that the drinking water is fresh and clean.
FOOT ROT.
(Foul in the Foot)
Cause.—Foot Rot is produced by inflammation of the soft structures of the foot between the claws or toes. It may be due to an overgrowth and inward pressure, etc., or from filth accumulating and hardening between the claws, producing inflammation and softening or ulceration of the skin in the interdigital space (between the claws). Under some conditions several sheep or goats in the same drove become affected at the same time, leading many to think that the disease is contagious. When Foot Rot appears in a very short time, among sheep or goats, this condition can almost always be traced to filth, irritation, etc.
Symptoms.—The animal is observed to limp when walking. On careful examination of the foot we find it hot, swollen above the claws and in the soft parts between them, frequently spreading the claws apart to a considerable extent, or the inflammation may have advanced to softening and sloughing of the soft structure between the claws. If this condition is neglected at this stage, deep abscesses form and the pus burrows under the horny wall, and the joints within the hoof become inflamed and destroyed, in which case the treatment is difficult and recovery will be very arduous.
Treatment.—In the early stages of the disease, before the pus burrows beneath the horny structures of the foot, any foreign substances impacted between the claws should be removed. Then place a trough about one foot wide, six to eight inches high, and twelve to sixteen feet long, and fill with water and Coal Tar Dip, diluted in proportions of one part dip to fifty parts of water. Build a fence on each side of the trough, just wide enough for one sheep to pass through, and compel every sheep to walk in the solution slowly.
This treatment should be repeated once or twice a week until the lameness has disappeared. In cases where deep sloughing has taken place under the horny structures, saturate a piece of oakum or cotton in the following liniment: Oil of Origanum, Oil of Pisis, Oil of Turpentine, each four ounces. Place it between the claws and hold it there by means of a bandage. Repeat this application every other day. The animals that do not show signs of improvement under this treatment in a few days invariably have the joints of the foot affected and should not be driven.